Members Vince Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 I mean, why is Floyd stuff classed as good, and how does it compare to other stuff? What components does a good album cover need? I know there have been loads of books covering this topic, but I thought it'd make a good discussion. What covers do you like and why.At what point does something stop being a photograph with some text on it, and become something verging on art?Discuss... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members inscho Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 I already posted this once, but it is one of my favorites.my morning jacket-zI like it because the colors are pleasing and has great, interesting art. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members voerking Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 i think the best album covers can stand alone as works of art, but have a symbiotic relationship with the music contained within. also, i hate computer fonts...hand lettering, all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vince Posted April 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Originally posted by inscho I already posted this once, but it is one of my favorites. my morning jacket-z I like it because the colors are pleasing and has great, interesting art. Is this the front cover, or an inside piece? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members inscho Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Originally posted by Vince Is this the front cover, or an inside piece? front cover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vince Posted April 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Originally posted by inscho front cover What's the album called? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members inscho Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Originally posted by Vince What's the album called? Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vince Posted April 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Originally posted by inscho Z Makes no sense to me, but hey - it's a cool illustration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Verne Andru Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 I grew up during the 60's and 70's when an album was a 12" platter and there was room for "art". Buying an album was as much about the music as it was the pictures that went on the cover. Double-album's were particularly cool - I actually bought Cream's "Wheels of Fire" just for the cover - didn't know the band from Adam. I liked Yes' stuff, Zeps and others that spent time merging the visuals with the sounds. Late 70's and early 80's I started doing cover art - a buddy owned an indy label in Toronto. The album "art" was a blend of commercial packaging and artistic techniques. After all, if it didn't have an appeal that "sold" the records to the target market plus got past the retail censors, there really wasn't much point. Working on a 12" "canvas" was great - lots of room to experiment and do something that people could actually enjoy. Then CD's came along. I looked at them and said "sounds great but there's no room to do anything visual - it's a thumbnail at best" and moved on to other things. Now we're moving into digital downloads and the "packaging" is becoming totally obsolete. The future of "album art" I'm afraid will be found in web page design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vince Posted April 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Originally posted by Verne Andru I grew up during the 60's and 70's when an album was a 12" platter and there was room for "art". Buying an album was as much about the music as it was the pictures that went on the cover. Double-album's were particularly cool - I actually bought Cream's "Wheels of Fire" just for the cover - didn't know the band from Adam. I liked Yes' stuff, Zeps and others that spent time merging the visuals with the sounds.Late 70's and early 80's I started doing cover art - a buddy owned an indy label in Toronto. The album "art" was a blend of commercial packaging and artistic techniques. After all, if it didn't have an appeal that "sold" the records to the target market plus got past the retail censors, there really wasn't much point. Working on a 12" "canvas" was great - lots of room to experiment and do something that people could actually enjoy.Then CD's came along. I looked at them and said "sounds great but there's no room to do anything visual - it's a thumbnail at best" and moved on to other things. Now we're moving into digital downloads and the "packaging" is becoming totally obsolete. The future of "album art" I'm afraid will be found in web page design. All good points, and I agree, but this doesn't help me when faced with designing a cover for a band! I'm a designer by trade (I work in advertising) so I know what I'm doing, but it's interesting that I'm stumped by this. Do you just have to take a cool photo and whack the bands logo on, some kind of illustration or what? I know there is no step by step guide to design, so I'm just asking for the important or iconic elements that help!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Aaron Cheney Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Good post Verne Andru! I've seen the exact same trend in my years as a musician and graphic designer. Used to be the art was as much a component of the album buying experience as the music. Nowaday an album cover is usually a photo of the arist. Weeeee.Some of my all time favorite covers were Iron Maiden's Powerslave and Somewhere in Time. I remember spending hours staring at those. Other good ones where Scorpions' Blackout, Hendrix' Axis Bold As Love, and Van Halen's Fair Warning.There were also albums with very simple covers that represented the album perfectly, ACDC's Back in Black being a prime example.The album cover has to be a visual representation of the music. I'm not sure one can be any more specific than that.As another aside to Verne Andru's post regarding packaging, isn't it interesting that a CD with 15 songs on it, fully packaged with art and an 8 page booklet costs $15, while the same 15 songs legally downloaded as inferior sounding mp3's with no packaging or art still cost about $15?Hmm.... way to go music industry. That aught to stop Limewire in their tracks.A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members capnbringdown Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 It depends on the personality of the band. Not every band can pull off a cover like In the Court of the Crimson King. Look at all the Beatles covers, they're just pictures of the members in memorable poses. Most groups don't take the pink floyd way rather they put their members actually on the covers. It's hard for anyone to give you a definite answer because so much depends on the personality of the band and, to a lesser extent, the style of music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mumford Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 A good cover suggests something beyond what it shows. I suppose I feel the same way about photographs. A photo of people posing is kind of boring, but a photo of some kind of action is more interesting. I know it seems simple, and I'm not a photographer, but I just think the covers and pictpures I like suggest a theme or scene. Granted, it also helps if they appeal to my visual tastes, for example I really like overly detailed art with more focus than is natural, it's just something that appeals to me. The first couple Mars Volta album covers are examples of the visual style I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Verne Andru Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 When I was doing it there was generally one [or more] members of the band that took ownership of the cover art and drove the process. On the re-issue of either Agualung or Thick as a Brick, Ian goes into how they came up with their album art during his "chat" segment that can be instructional. That said, what the "band" may want and what the market may want can be diametrically opposed, but it usually gives you a place to start. After all, they are the ones signing the cheques [that may or may not bounce - this is the music biz after all]. Album art is POP design - commercially speaking. In fact, it was doing album art that got me into doing packaging for software and musical instrument stuff. As with all POP design, it needs to make the consumer want to a] pick it up and b] purchase it. Artistic merits aside, if it fails at b], and by extension a], it is a failure. So, as a commercial artist, you have to go back to basics. Create an image in your minds-eye as to what would be the market demographic for the product. What is their age group, sex, social habits and buying patterns. If they are young, they will be "hip" and you'll want a "trendy" design. If they are older, they'll want something a bit more conservative. If they are primarily female your choice of colors and fonts will have to be made accordingly, etc. If you are selling "sex" - as in the cock-rock era - photo's of scantily clad people tends to work pretty well. It's like any other commercial design gig. Figure out what are you selling and to who and make your design/artistic choices accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members light years Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 this cover says it all about the music inside. scratchy, scrawling art is great. and one of my favs! the cover dares you to listen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vince Posted April 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Originally posted by Verne Andru When I was doing it there was generally one [or more] members of the band that took ownership of the cover art and drove the process. On the re-issue of either Agualung or Thick as a Brick, Ian goes into how they came up with their album art during his "chat" segment that can be instructional. That said, what the "band" may want and what the market may want can be diametrically opposed, but it usually gives you a place to start. After all, they are the ones signing the cheques [that may or may not bounce - this is the music biz after all].Album art is POP design - commercially speaking. In fact, it was doing album art that got me into doing packaging for software and musical instrument stuff. As with all POP design, it needs to make the consumer want to a] pick it up and b] purchase it. Artistic merits aside, if it fails at b], and by extension a], it is a failure.So, as a commercial artist, you have to go back to basics. Create an image in your minds-eye as to what would be the market demographic for the product. What is their age group, sex, social habits and buying patterns. If they are young, they will be "hip" and you'll want a "trendy" design. If they are older, they'll want something a bit more conservative. If they are primarily female your choice of colors and fonts will have to be made accordingly, etc. If you are selling "sex" - as in the cock-rock era - photo's of scantily clad people tends to work pretty well.It's like any other commercial design gig. Figure out what are you selling and to who and make your design/artistic choices accordingly. V helpful and insightful post!! cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jonny guitar Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 When I was a pot smoking teen I would define a good album cover by its ability to capture my attention for the entire side of the record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mumford Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 And I think it never hurts to shows the band in kimonos, either. The kids love those kimonos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vince Posted April 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Don't think they'll go for Kimono's, but thanks for the suggestion!have a look at their website - www.fortunedrive.com - they've got some cool photos on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members percyexpat Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 it can be an extension of the artistic expression contained in the music or simply something to get peoples attention and make them buy the record or both. same goes for music videos, live visuals etc...its interesting to consider how this fits in in the modern age of music downloads..is it decommercialisation or just dematerialisation?i think the album art is really more important now than ever because fewer people are buying cds. its pretty important to make the album and its packaging something that you cant just download.and good album covers?...hmm. i dont know, i havnt bought any albums in about 3 years due to being a student, hah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Verne Andru Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Tommy Bolin did the Kimona thing back in the 70'sFlip side has a better "kimona" pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hopeless Romantic Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Originally posted by light years scratchy, scrawling art is great. This is one of my favorites as well. I really like the cover to Sgt. Pepper and Odessey and Oracle too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuitArtMan Posted April 27, 2006 Members Share Posted April 27, 2006 Uhmmm... They aren't afraind of offending anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TheAtomicJeff Posted April 28, 2006 Members Share Posted April 28, 2006 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuyaGuy Posted April 28, 2006 Members Share Posted April 28, 2006 Originally posted by Vince I mean, why is Floyd stuff classed as good, and how does it compare to other stuff? What components does a good album cover need? I know there have been loads of books covering this topic, but I thought it'd make a good discussion. What covers do you like and why. At what point does something stop being a photograph with some text on it, and become something verging on art? Discuss... to be honest this is one of my least favorite LP covers:that's right LEAST favorite.OTOH these are some faves:in general an album cover is like a video. it's a commercial and an attempt at visuall representing the band and their music. at best an album cover can be visually engaging. but even if a painter/visual artist does the artwork (Pettibon, Warhol, Duras, Hirst, et al) i'd still have a hard time calling it "art." there are a few reasons, not the least of which is that it's not independent.to me the best covers are the ones that cause an immediate emotionally associative reaction. i see the artwork, which is a good representation of the music, and then reacall how that music affects me emotionally. which basically means that to be a good cover you have to know the album already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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